Whats the difference between an LCD and LED monitor?

LCD stands for "liquid crystal display" basically, it is two sheets of polarizing material with liquid crystal between them. When a current is passed through the liquid crystal, the crystals align. It creates a shutter like effect and with the use of colored filters, produces color images. However, liquid crystal displays don't emit light on their own, but instead need some sort of lighting, while some screens use a reflective back to reflect ambient light, monitors and tv's use back lights. This is where the LED part comes in. In many LCD monitors (especially the earlier ones), fluorescent lights were used as the back-light, however, some LCD monitors are produced with LED back-lights. Since many small LED's are used to light up the screen, darker parts of the screen can be dimmed to produce more contrast and richer blacks. Summary: The difference is really between fluorescent vs LED. Fluorescent back-lit displays are typically cheaper, but LED back-lit displays typically have more contrast and deeper blacks. Hope this helps.